Better or worse in 2025? New York Giants edge defenders

The Giants should absolutely be better

Three excellent edge defenders is better than two. So, as we discuss the edge position for the New York Giants we are going to dispense with the usual “better or worse” format. Of course, the Giants will be better on the edge after adding Abdul Carter with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.

The questions are:

• How will defensive coordinator Shane Bowen use his new toys? He has a deeper, more talented group of defensive linemen and a rebuilt secondary along with his edge trio.
• How much better will the edge group be? That depends partially on Bowen’s ability to find the right roles for Carter, Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux. It also depends on whether Carter is as good as advertised, and whether Thibodeaux plays like the star the Giants thought they drafted in 2022, or the pretty good but not great player he has been thus far.

In his first year as Giants defensive coordinator, Bowen was criticized — fairly or not fairly — at times for not being flexible enough. Did he do enough to bend the more traditional schemes he brought from the Tennessee Titans to fit players like Deonte Banks and Bobby Okereke, who were brought to the Giants to play in Wink Martindale’s ultra-aggressive defense?

“Shane and his staff and Dabs will get together and figure out the creativity of how they’re going to utilize the personnel,” GM Joe Schoen said shortly after selecting Carter in the draft.

Okereke said after a recent OTA practice, that Bowen is certainly throwing a lot of ideas at the wall as the team searches for the best ways to use all of its newfound defensive talent.

“I think it’s great position flexibility all around and we have some packages [where] I’m on the edge, Burns is off the ball, Abdul is off the ball,” Okereke said. “We’re all kind of rotating around, so that’s our job as players to sharpen our tools and to just be weapons for Shane to utilize on game day.”

Of course, Carter has to be the player the Giants drafted him to be for the edge group — and the defense as a whole — to look as impressive on the field as it does on paper.

Pro Football Focus ranked both Burns and Carter among the league top 32 edge defenders. In putting Carter at No. 20, PFF wrote:

Projecting rookie production is always tricky. However, Carter led the FBS in PFF pass-rush grade (92.4) and total pressures (66), and he also ranked in the top five in pass-rush win rate (22.6%). He has all the tools to make an immediate impact at the NFL level.

Carter has drawn comparisons to fellow Penn State alum Micah Parsons, who was elite as a rookie in 2021. Given his potential, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Carter crack the top 15 on this list next year.

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